Afeni Shakur, the mother of slain rapper and actor Tupac "2Pac" Shakur, was recently interviewed by XXL magazine for the seventh anniversary of her son's death. Tupac Shakur was shot and mortally wounded in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada in September of 1996. No one has ever been charged with the crime but Afeni Shakur believes her son's killer is dead.

Shakur told XXL, "I think the person who killed Tupac, I think he's dead. But beyond that, if I'm wrong and it's somebody else, I still believe that that person has to carry that. What I know about the criminal justice system in America is that they cannot punish him like God is going to punish him."

Although Afeni Shakur wasn't specific, she may have been referring to Orlando Anderson, the man that Tupac Shakur and his entourage beat up several hours before Shakur was shot. Anderson, who was questioned by Las Vegas police following the shooting but released, was killed less than a year later in a Los Angeles shooting.

Afeni Shakur added that she buried Tupac's ashes on her farm in Lumberton, North Carolina, saying, "Yesterday, which was June 16, 2003, we put Tupac's ashes in the ground after seven years... And we pray that people will allow him to be gone. I think we should let him be. He earned it."

In the interview, Afeni Shakur shared some intimate details of her son's last hours, "Tupac was never conscious from the time I saw him. He was never conscious. I believed that he would make it through because the doctor said that even with one lung, Tupac was extremely healthy and strong, and it was entirely possible that he could recover if we could put him somewhere quiet for six months. We were prepared to do that, but Tupac's organs started to shut down."

She continued, "Once they tried to take Tupac out of the coma, and Tupac started to fight, we believe that Tupac was not interested. Tupac died seven times and they revived him seven times, and then I asked the doctors to allow him to be. And that's what we did. We let him be."

In related news, Tupac: Resurrection, a two-hour documentary on the rapper's life, will hit theaters this fall. The film was produced by Afeni Shakur and MTV Films. A book with the same title is also slated for release in conjunction with the film.

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